BRADES, Montserrat -- In a celebration of culture, creativity and music, the island of Montserrat will host the 4th Annual Calabash Festival, July 11-19, 2009. The week-long event offers a wide selection of festivities that highlight the hidden talents of local artisans and designers. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA -- The Board of Directors of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. has announced that final preparations are being completed for The Garifuna Reunion in St Vincent and the Grenadines on July 18th – 23rd. According to the Board of Directors,although the global financial crisis has had an impact... read more...

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ST THOMAS, USVI -- St Thomas/St John/Water Island Chief of Police Rodney Querrard released the following message to the US Virgin Islands public on Tuesday in hopes of finding out who took a cell phone picture of eighteen-year-old Karence DeCosta, who was killed in a single-car accident. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) An international colloquium on renowned American writer Ernest Hemingway will begin on Thursday in Havana, where participants will discuss several topics such as the recovery and digitalization of some 10,000 documents of the prestigious writer by Cuban and American experts. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA -- The Anguilla Tourist Board has announced the launch of its new website. Designed to capture and communicate the essence of authentic Anguilla, the new site tells the story of the unique Anguilla experience and highlights the destination’s offerings to travellers. read more...

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BONN, Germany (Reuters) -- Climate change will aggravate natural disasters and people in developing nations such as Dominica, Vanuatu, Myanmar and Guatemala are most at risk, a UN-backed study showed on Thursday. It urged governments to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to curb mounting impacts. read more...

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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Climate change has contributed to a flattening of the complex, multi-layered architecture of Caribbean coral reefs, compromising their role as a nursery for fish stocks and a buffer against tropical storms, a study shows. The biggest impact has occurred in the last decade. read more...

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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- In this week’s episode of Focus on..., Wedding TV visits the luscious island of Barbados to discover all you need to know when planning your dream wedding in the tropics. Ruth Phillips of the Barbados Tourist Board, sheds light on some of the most romantic places to wed on the island. read more...

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PARAMARIBO, Suriname -- A judge in Suriname on Tuesday acquitted a US-based tribute artiste on charges that she tried to pass herself off as six-time Grammy winner Toni Braxton during a concert in February. Prosecutors were seeking a twelve month jail term with a nine months suspension. read more...

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ST THOMAS, USVI: The St Thomas Traffic Investigation Bureau in the US Virgin Islands is investigating a single car accident that happened at 2:15 am Monday, June 8 on Veteran’s Drive. Killed on impact was 18-year-old Karence DeCosta. A male passenger in the vehicle was not injured. read more...

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LONDON, England -- A Trinidadian-born Royal chauffeur took one thousand pounds sterling as a bribe from undercover reporters to show them around London’s Buckingham Palace grounds and the Queen's limousines. The Trinidad Express reported that Brian Sirjusingh was a policeman in Trinidad. read more...

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PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten -- Caribbean leaders who continue to resist the call to market the region as a single destination should be inspired by the nations of St Maarten and St Martin, which share an island and are successfully branding themselves by embracing the concept the sum is greater than the parts. read more...

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CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba (ACN) -- Mango harvesting in several Cuban provinces started this week and the fruit will be sent to the Ceballos Citrus Company for processing in this central region. Jose Ricardo Conde, the firm’s production manager, said that the factory is ready to press over 3,000 metric tons of mangoes. read more...

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THE VALLEY, Anguilla -- Anguilla joins with the region and world community in the observance of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on Sunday. World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of the International Telecommunications Union. read more...

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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The top stylish, innovative and trend setting Caribbean designers will be amidst the flashing lights of the 2nd Annual Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago. From couture to prêt a porter, a variety of fashion genres from established and emerging local and Caribbean designers will be shown. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA (Reuters) -- The midst of a recession might not seem like the best time for a luxury wedding at a Caribbean beach resort far from home but industry experts say a growing number of US couples are doing exactly that. A new survey forecasts the market for such weddings will grow. read more...

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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Veterinary Epidemiologists/Para-edpidemiologists (VEPs) who are part of a regional project aimed at strengthening the animal health surveillance and rapid response systems of National Veterinary Services in the Caribbean Region will meet in Trinidad, May 11 – 15, 2009. read more...

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BRADES, Montserrat -- The Green Monkey Dive Shop with the support of the Montserrat Tourist Board and the Montserrat Tourism Challenge Fund will host the destination’s inaugural Montserrat Dive Festival from June 27 - July 4, 2009, held in conjunction with Montserrat’s bi-annual Reef Check Program. read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Earlier this year, the United States became the sixth country to sign the regional environmental agreement titled ‘Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution Protocol’, joining Belize, France, Panama, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago in their efforts to protect the Caribbean Sea. read more...

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BASSETERRE, St Kitts (SKNIS) -- The Caribbean Region and Central America are better prepared to deal with natural or man made disasters, after successfully completing the latest round of training and evaluation under the Allied Forces Humanitarian Programme (FAHUM). The annual exercise is held prior to the hurricane season. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA -- An historic bill that calls for Caribbean nationals to have their own origins category on the US Census form has been introduced by Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York's 11th congressional district in the US House of Representatives. read more...

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HOUSTON, USA (Reuters) -- The mustached face of Sir Allen Stanford, the billionaire Texan accused of an $8 billion fraud by US regulators, can be yours for only $29.99.  A Fort Myers, Florida, entrepreneur has put Stanford's face on a "limited edition" commemorative tile that he peddles on eBay's auction site. read more...

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WASHINGTON, USA: Veteran Washington-based broadcaster Von Martin joined thousands all across the Caribbean, North America, and elsewhere, mourning Eugene Godfried, the champion radio broadcaster, community organizer, music producer and ethno-musicologist, who died this past Sunday. read more...

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BONN, Germany (Reuters): Small island states have sharpened their calls for the rich to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, saying low-lying atolls risk being washed off the map by rising ocean levels. A group of leading researchers last month projected a quickening pace of sea level rise this century. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA: The current global economic crisis, which began with the severe strains on the financial and banking system in parts of the developed world, now risks triggering a human development catastrophe in the world’s poorest countries, as the leaders of the richest nations set off to London for the G-20 summit. read more...

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LONDON, England: Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has called on G20 leaders to look beyond their own interests as the ‘T20’: “the Trustees of the whole world's interests”. He called on them to pursue an inclusive agenda to ensure that the outcomes of the Summit benefit millions of people around the world. read more...

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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Ten regional countries will sign an agreement with the United States to make the tracing of illegal weapons easier. The Memorandum of Understanding signed with the regional governments will provide for the electronic tracing of illicit firearms under a system called eTRACE read more...

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MEDELLIN, Colombia (Bloomberg): US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on Caribbean and Latin American countries to help revive global growth by safeguarding free trade and stimulating their economies through “all available tools.” Geithner last week proposed bringing large hedge funds under federal supervision. read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica: The European Union has joined the CCRIF’s 16 member governments, Canada, the World Bank, the United Kingdom, Bermuda, Ireland, France and the Caribbean Development Bank in donating to the facility’s reserve pool. The €12.5 million donation increased the tally to over US$65 million. read more...

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CHICAGO, USA (AFP): The number of fish living in Caribbean reefs has dropped significantly since 1995, after decades of stability, and is likely due to a significant loss of coral, a study published Thursday found. Researchers examined data from 48 different studies of 318 reefs across the Caribbean. read more...

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PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP): A UN agency is using nuclear material and technologies to study coastal pollution in a dozen Caribbean countries caused mainly by oil refineries, its officials said. The International Atomic Energy Agency is focusing on marine pollution in this project because the sea is vital to the region. read more...

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SANTIAGO, Chile (Bloomberg): The Caribbean and Latin America’s fight against global warming will probably be hampered by the financial crisis, which may prompt governments to put off tax increases and stronger environmental rules, a World Bank economist said. read more...

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LONDON, England (Bloomberg): Lord Conrad Black, in prison for fraud and obstruction of justice, still has his peerage, as does Jeffrey Archer, who served two years for perjury. Until last June, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe could claim his honorary knighthood too. For now, R. Allen Stanford is still Sir Allen. read more...

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CRABS PENINSULA, Antigua (Reuters): The tranquil, reef-fringed isle off Antigua's north coast sustains mangroves, deer and a rare duck species -- along with ambitions for one of the Caribbean's biggest development projects. But the US investigation into Allen Stanford and his Antiguan-based bank could deal a fatal blow. read more...

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LONDON, England (AFP): When Allen Stanford unveiled his 20 million dollar winner takes all Twenty20 match between his Caribbean Superstars and England, many in the cricket world were stunned and appalled. But the allegations levelled by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday... read more...

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ROSEAU, Dominica: The WaterAid Odyssey continues as Graham Hughes pushes forward in his journey through the Caribbean on his round-the-world Odyssey, trying to make up for lost time after encountering unexpected travel delays in the islands. Hughes is attempting to break a world record. read more...

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KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: In a history making Odyssey, film-maker Graham Hughes is traveling the globe in an attempt to break a world record for the fastest journey to every nation on Earth without flying, while raising £1,000,000 for the international non-profit organization WaterAid. read more...

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BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP): A Brazilian coastal resort is from Monday to be the venue for three days of summits by Caribbean and Latin American leaders preoccupied with the economic crisis creeping across their region. Thirty-three presidents from Latin American and Caribbean nations are to gather. read more...

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COCONUT CREEK, USA: For the eighth consecutive Christmas season, Food For The Poor has enabled groups of prisoners in four countries to begin new, honourable lives. Prisoners in Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti and Honduras who committed nonviolent offences, but were incarcerated will be released. read more...

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POZNAN, Poland (AFP): Dozens of small island nations threatened by climate change have taken their case to the UN talks here, saying rising seas are already lapping at their shores and may eventually wash some of their number off the map. An alliance of 43 tropical island states has set down proposals. read more...

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